National Clothesline

Every now and again, I am asked to give a seminar or speech on business trends, especially as they relate to legal issues.

Politicians are always trying to pass new laws under the guise of “protecting” employees. In addition, plaintiffs’ attorneys are always coming up with new ways to sue employers.

So, in anticipation of my next speaking engagement, I have put together a list of trends I see developing:

1. Serious restrictions on e-mail. Very few people truly appreciate how dangerous e-mail can be. E-mail is every bit as potent a piece of evidence as a letter, a written memo, or the spoken word. Yet, people act like e-mail is different, like something they will never have to account for or explain.

I have seen people write absolutely incriminating e-mail, then accidentally send it to the wrong person. It is a problem that is only getting worse.

Employees must be taught that e-mails need to be edited, reviewed, and carefully thought out before being sent. Otherwise, they will continue to be sources of embarrassment in litigation.

Employers will begin to put restrictions on e-mail if this trend continues. Here’s a tip: Print and edit e-mail before sending it.

2. Organized labor. Despite a continuing decline in membership, labor unions are here to stay. Membership has dropped from 20 percent to 13 percent of the labor force in the past 20 years, but more than 500,000 workers formed new unions last year. Unions are targeting minority employees, as well as traditional professional employees, like physicians.

I expect to see union activity increase, and I expect to see unions use Spanish-speaking organizers more effectively than in the past. Union organizing will get more intense and more sophisticated.

3. Businesses will go 24/7. More companies will stay open 24 hours, which will create wage and hour problems, as well as staffing issues. Some of those wage and hour issues will involve overtime, breaks, and meals.

4. Bad employee attitudes. Employees are far more dissatisfied today than they were 25 years ago. That attitude is reflected in the increased number of lawsuits and the decreasing number of long-term employees. Only 25 percent of workers today feel loyal to their employers; 40 percent feel trapped in their current jobs.

Employers must learn to deal with unhappy workers, or change their methods to make those workers happier. Unhappy employees sue more and work less.

5. Telecommuting increases. I expect more people to work from home, raising issues similar to those found at companies working around the clock. If an employee cannot sleep and decides to do work at home, must he or she be compensated for it? After all, the employee is permitted to work from home at other times. Telecommuting only works for the right employees.

6. Decrease in available labor. While the number of jobs created continues to increase, the number of available people to fill them does not. By 2010, there will be 10 million more jobs than available workers to fill them.

It is expected that employers will start encouraging employees not to retire. Labor shortages will create the need to work more overtime, pay higher salaries, and give better benefits.

Employers will have to be careful, however, not to alienate current employees by recruiting new workers at higher rates of pay.

7. Privacy. More and more businesses will take advantage of technology to monitor employees. Cameras, computer surveillance, and tape recording are common today.

We can expect the state and federal lawmakers to start restricting the amount of monitoring an employer can do. This will all come as employers find the need to increase security because of computer-related crimes, such as embezzlement.

8. Health issues. Health insurance will continue to be a big issue. It gets more expensive, and it shows no sign of leveling off soon. Some companies, in addition to paying for insurance, will adopt wellness programs to keep employees healthy.

I do not expect to see workout rooms in every workplace, but we could see more emphasis placed on employees to quit smoking and eat better.

9. More age discrimination and more wage and hour suits. I have already addressed these issues in previous articles, but it does not hurt to mention them again.

This week (early March at this writing), wage and hour settlements and lawsuits have been big stories in the national press.

For example, Morgan Stanley — the large financial company — paid $42.5 million to settle overtime claims for its California financial advisors.

A federal jury in Alabama awarded over $19 million to Family Dollar Store managers who they found not to be exempt executive employees. The final award, including attorneys’ fees and liquidated damages, could exceed $38 million.

A national funeral home chain has agreed to pay $4.5 million in overtime claims for funeral directors and other employees. Again, the defense that they were exempt executive employees did not save the day.

In addition, late in 2005, a jury in California awarded Walmart employees over $170 million in damages for Walmart’s failure to provide meal breaks as required by state law.

10. More lawyers. This is the last trend I will address. We can expect the number of lawyers to increase, which means there will have to be something for them to do. Expect more lawsuits. That does not mean, however, that lawsuits are inevitable for your business.than to order her to get counseling. So much for a second chance.